No research, no development

Research has long been recognised as an indispensible tool for overall development in emerging economies. At a time when many developing countries are investing heavily in building and enhancing the capacities of their human resources with the support of government institutions and international aid agencies, we must convince donors, policymakers and civil society that research can identify the causes of obstacles to development needs.
However, it should be noted that too much reliance on foreign aid will in the long run weaken our human capacity. Another important thing to keep in mind is that it is unrealistic to enforce development measures in the absence of research priorities. In the first place, the government must take the full responsibility to encourage the establishment of research institutions and recognise the immediate need to increase more spending on extensive research projects in the country’s crucial sectors.
With the political climate opening up, the time has come for distinguished academics to sensitise the decision makers to the lack of supportive national policies that assign a high priority to research and development in areas of education, health, economy and agriculture.
All things considered, conducting research is the cause, whereas implementing development is the effect. The onus is on all of us to start learning to distinguish between cause and effect in order to break the cyclical pattern of ‘no research, no development’.